‘Harry & The Thief’ an odd tale of time

Some people will look at “Harry & The Thief” as an oddball social commentary. Others may see it as an entertaining reconstruction of history. I prefer to look at the Know Theatre’s new production, which opened Friday, as a zany sci-fi tale sprinkled with self-referential comedy so smart that it would make the Marx Brothers proud.

Playwright Sigrid Gilmer is imaginative and reckless and has a wonderfully impudent sense of humor. The laws of physics? History? They’re just pieces on her playground.

But then, this is a play about time travel. Why quibble with reality?

There is no glitzy, blinking time machine. Instead, Jeremy (Rico Reid), an L.A. hipster who doubles as a semi-mad scientist, builds his time travel gizmo into a pocket-sized “Mammy” doll.

He coerces his cousin Mimi (Torie Wiggins), a small-time thug betrayed by her gang, to travel back to the mid-19th century, find abolitionist Harriet Tubman and supply her with enough weaponry to lead a “war of equalization.” The goal? A “Free Black Republic.” Jeremy, of course, will be emperor.

Don’t sweat the details. Just know that Mimi does go back in time. And she does meet Tubman, along with a small group of slaves making their way to freedom.

Gilmer addresses the realities of slavery. But even the most serious scenes are dominated by laugh lines. And that’s fine, because Gilmer’s characters, though resembling stereotypical African-American characters straight out of “Gone With the Wind,” are real people with real dreams; to move west and become a cowboy, to move to Paris, to open a bakery, to fall in love and raise a family.

To make all of this vaguely credible, director Holly L. Derr has cobbled together a fabulous cast. Sola Thompson is Vivian, a young slave and mother to an illegitimate baby fathered by a dimwitted plantation overseer, played by Jon Kovach. Darnell Benjamin is her twin brother, full of bravado but not much common sense.

Then there’s the hilarious Burgess Byrd as Shilo the cook, alternately nurturing and vengeful, and the always reliable Kenneth Darnell Early as the man who really runs the plantation. He’s intelligent and cultured and besotted by Shilo.

Not all the roles work, though. Meggy Hai Trang is Anita, a narrator who bobs in and out of the show. Derr and Trang work hard – too hard, in fact – to make this character intriguing. In the end, she’s more a distraction.

And then there is Keisha Kemper as Tubman. She’s agreeable, but not compelling. It’s hard to imagine how this character could inspire a group of opinionated slaves to risk their lives to flee into the unknown.

Fortunately, there is Wiggins’ Mimi. She holds all these disparate parts together.

It’s a dominating performance, always hilarious and appealing even as she wavers between tough and wimpy.

What’s surprising, though, is that the other highlight is slave owner Orry Main Scarlet, played by Brent Vimtrup. Indecisive, flighty and occasionally incredibly offensive, the character gives Vimtrup a chance to unleash himself in ways that are wacky, riotous and sometimes even quite sweet.

The show was still quite loose on opening night. Effective and entertaining, but not as sharp and sassy as it will surely be by the end of its run on Aug. 30. ■